"Suffice to say, not all the gods that are worshipped within our great Empire find the roots of their veneration entirely within the borders of the Empire. Indeed, some of the Empire's most important deities were largely unknown to our tribal ancestors before and at the time of Sigmar. These gods that I have termed "Classical" are those that have come to the Empire from the ancient lands of Tilea and south-eastern Estalia -- lands whose cities and cultures were built upon the physical and cultural ruins of the Elves that populated the area millennia before the coming of Man. It is my considered opinion as both a scholar of religion and Magister Patriarch of the College of Light, and therefore a student of what little Elven history is available to Humanity, that it is because of the ancestral Tileans' and Estalians' exposure to, and subsequent obsession with, the countless ruins and artifacts of the Elves that scatter their lands, that their earliest gods are depicted as civilised entities, dressed and armoured in a manner that is at odds with the primal and barbaric appearance of the Empire's Elder Gods, discussed previously in this piece. More than this, the Classical Gods personify more specific and abstract concepts than the Empire's Elder Gods, perhaps indicating the more complex outlook of the Tileans' and Estalians' ancestors with regard to what was most important in their lives. So where the gods of the Empire's tribal ancestors embody wild and untameable forces, the Classical deities preside over and embody such things as learning, justice, wisdom, mercy, charity, statecraft, and the arts of warfare (as opposed to the strength of arms, courage, and brutal strength promoted by Ulric). Just why there are so many connections between the Old Gods of Humanity and the gods of the Elves is, of course, open to interpretation. It is my belief that many of the Elder Gods of the Old World are but aspects of the even older gods of the Elves. How this might reflect upon the divinity of Sigmar Heldenhammer, or even the Dwarfen Ancestor Gods, is another matter entirely, and one I shall investigate another time when my eyes are less tired from writing."
An illustration of the relationships between the pantheon of the southern Classical Gods who originated in the realms of Estalia and Tilea and those of the Old Gods whose pantheon was originally worshipped in the central and northern lands of the Old World that eventually formed the Empire. The two pantheons eventually merged into the Old World Pantheon of the present day with the addition of the ascended mortal deity Sigmar and Ranald, the god of thieves and fortune, who are considered gods unaligned with both earlier pantheons.
The Classical Gods, also called the Town Gods,[3a] and the Southern Gods in the northern Old World[5a], are the members of the pantheon of gods originally venerated in the early days of Human civilisation in the southern lands of the Old World, including Tilea, Estalia, and the Border Princes. Their worship has spread through trade and diplomatic contact to other lands. Today, their worship is popular in the cosmopolitan towns and cities of the Empire of Man, and some nobles and townsfolk secretly regard them as more sophisticated than the pantheon of the Old Gods of the Imperial north -- though few would risk voicing such opinions aloud.[1a]
The gods introduced by the Tileans to the pre-Imperial tribes are called the "Classical Gods" after the Classical language the southerners used with the present day Imperials' ancestors.[2a]
The most widespread cults of the Classical Gods in the Empire are those of Verena, goddess of law and wisdom; Myrmidia, goddess of war and strategy; Shallya, goddess of mercy and compassion; and Ranald, god of fortune, trickery, and thieves. Although Ranald was not originally part of the Classical pantheon -- his faith emerging much later -- some scholars still classify him as a Classical God. This claim, however, is strongly contested by certain Ranaldian factions, who vociferously deny any such association.[1a][2a][5a]
Hiding behind these, there is also Khaine, the god of murder, though his cult is outlawed in every civilised land.[1a][5a]
Although few say so out loud, many citizens of the Empire regard the Old Gods of the original Imperial tribes as the true deities of the Empire, and the Classical Gods as relative newcomers.[1a]
Fusion of the Classical and Old Gods[]
A schematic showing the origins of the gods of the Old World Pantheon and the ancient pantheons of Old World cultures from which they were derived.[5a]
As the Tilean merchants spread word of their gods to the Human tribes of the northern Old World, they, in turn, were influenced by the faiths of the Empire's ancestral tribes, and returned to their homelands with new myths and legends, some of which were incorporated into their existing traditions. Thus, many of the earliest surviving Tilean texts have tales including the northern names for the gods, rather than the original Tilean names.[2a]
For instance, although Morr was a name for the god of the dead that originated in the south, as the northern names for the god of the dead have been lost to time, the Tileans used different names for Manann, the god of the sea, Taal, the god of the wildlands and beasts, and Rhya, the goddess of nature and agriculture, which were Mathann, Karnos and Ishea, respectively, and had no equivalent for Ulric, the god of wolves and winter, at all, although some brave theists have dared to draw comparisons between Ulric and Khaine. The extant texts of the time have many myths of one god meeting another, typically a Classical God of the south meeting an Old God of the north, mirroring the contact between the Old World tribes of Men and their early empires.[2a]
Another important cultural export from the south was the religious role of the priest. Where the northern tribes relied upon temporal leaders -- their chiefs and kings -- to guard their spiritual welfare, the southern tribes and civilisations had both temporal and spiritual leaders, who operated in separate spheres.[2a]
Notable Classical Gods[]
Khaine[]
Khaine is the god of murder and patron of assassins, and the brother of Morr.[2]
Morr[]
Morr is the god of endings, death and the dead, the guide and guardian along the path of All That Is Before and All That Comes After. He is perhaps the most important of all the Classical Gods, both in Tilea and Estalia and in the Empire itself, for it is Morr who guides the souls of the dead through the realms of Limbo to the Afterworlds of the gods -- the places that await all once the mortal coil has been shed.[4a]
Morr is said to have taught Mankind's earliest ancestors how to prepare the dead for the hereafter, ensuring that they are prepared for their journey to whatever afterworld awaits them and that their bodies and spirits cannot be raised once more as Undead slaves to vile sorcerers and necromancers. It is said that unless a body and soul are specifically dedicated to a particular god, those who are buried or burned without the proper funerary rites taught to mortals by Morr are doomed to wander the sunless lands of Limbo, neither wholly in an afterworld nor in this mortal world, but trapped in between the two for all eternity, preyed upon by Daemons of the Utterdark and vulnerable to the summoning of necromancers and daemonologists.[4a]
Morr is depicted most commonly as a tall man of noble and brooding aspect, dressed in robes of unrelieved black. However, Morr is sometimes represented as a crypt's stone lintel, or else an open doorway, signifying his place as the medium between the lands of the living and the dead.[4a]
Yet Morr is also a god of dreams, as it is said that sleep is the cousin of death and the lands of dreams lie close to the afterworld. Whatever the case, Morr is said to sometimes appear to certain people in their sleep or as a dream by day, warning them against some future tribulation or else pointing them towards some important realisation or other -- yet even so, few worship Morr in his aspect as god of dreams.[4a]
Morr has no special holy days. His intercession is invoked and his divinity venerated at funerals and on occasions of remembrance or respect for those who have passed away. His priests burn incense to him and offer prayers at dawn and dusk, as above all, Morr is a god of endings and these times represent the end of night and the end of day, respectively.[4a]
Myrmidia[]
Myrmidia is the goddess of war and strategy and is the daughter of Verena and Morr within the pantheon of the Classical Gods. Where Ulric presides over raw courage, strength of arm, and the battle prowess of warriors as individuals, Myrmidia is the patron of the art and science of warfare, including strategy, codified martial arts, tactical maneuverings, professional soldiery, and military structures.[4a]
Myrmidia is most commonly portrayed as a tall, well-proportioned, and muscular woman, armed and armored in the style of the soldiers of southeastern Estalia. Howver, she is also commonly depicted in the form of a golden eagle. Myrmidia has no specific holy days, although her faithful in the Cult of Myrmidia often call upon her and offer sacrifices before and after battles and other military campaigns.[4a]
Ranald[]
Ranald is the god of luck, trickery, chance. He occupies a unique and often contradictory place within the pantheon of the Classical Gods. He's also worshipped across the Old World, where he is more commonly known as the god of thieves. Among urban Tileans, Ranald enjoys great popularity -- not as a patron of thieves, but as the epitome of the dynamic individual who seizes every opportunity to advance.[7a]
Shallya[]
Shallya is the goddess of compassion, the practice of medicine, healing, charity and mercy throughout the Old World. Said to be the second divine daughter of Verena and Morr, she is depicted as a young, beautiful maiden whose eyes perpetually well with tears of boundless compassion and sorrow for the suffering of Mankind, although she is also quite often portrayed in the form of a white dove.[4a]
The devotees of Shallya are renowned as the greatest healers and physicians in the Old World. There is no ailment that the sisters of Shallya do try to allay, whether it be of the body, mind or soul -- and so it is through this that one can ascertain the predilections of their goddess. In fact the only beings that Shallya and her devotees in the Cult of Shallya will not tolerate are those mortals who have given their souls and bodies over to Nurgle, whom the sisters call the Lord of Plagues.[4a]
It appears that Shallya shares certain traits in common with the Elven goddess Isha, the Bretonnian Lady of the Lake, and Rhya, whether this similarity be in her emphasis upon mercy to the weak, the depictions of her eyes welling up with tears for the sufferings of mortals, or her interest in promoting and sustaining healthy life. The significance this might have, if any, is a matter of speculation among scholars.[4a]
Shallya, as said previously, is worshipped throughout the Old World, mostly by physicians and healers, although any person suffering from some ailment or other will offer prayers to her. Like her father, Morr, Shallya has no specific holy days.[4a]
Verena[]
Verena is the goddess of justice, law, reason, logic, knowledge and learning, and she is the premier female deity of the Classical Gods' pantheon. Although she cannot be considered an emotive or particularly caring deity, Verena is in all her aspects concerned with absolute fairness and balanced judgement and so is popular amongst peoples of all social standings. She is particularly popular with diplomats, magistrates, and scholars, and anyone connected to legislative bodies and academia.[4a]
Verena is said to promote the absolute rule of law and demands that all the members of her Cult of Verena capitulate to the laws of the land. However, this is tempered with the fact that she is concerned chiefly with justice and logic, and so she will not tolerate unjust or poorly considered laws that lead to societal disharmony -- something she sees as anathema to the purpose of law in the first place. As such, although Verena encourages her faithful to be obedient to hierarchical structures, she abhors what she sees as the irrationality of tyranny and oppression for its own sake.[4a]
Verena is portrayed most frequently as a tall, dignified woman of handsome appearance and serious bearing. In her right hand, she carries a quill symbolising the primacy of the written law, and in her left hand, she carries weighing scales symbolising her impartiality and her desire for justice based upon facts. Indeed, within her temples, Verena is often depicted seated upon a throne, an open book on her lap, a quill in her hand, and a great owl on her shoulder.[4a]
Sometimes Verena is depicted in the form of a glorious owl of uncertain breed, and it is said that it is in this form that she has most commonly appeared to her devotees. She is also said to have manifested herself to her followers in the form of a Human sage, sometimes male and sometimes female.[4a]
Suffice to say, Verena is worshipped throughout the Old World, particularly in the south and especially in centres of learning like the cities of Altdorf and Nuln. Her major holy day of obligation is the first day of each year, although to a lesser extent the first day of each month and each week are also considered sacred to her followers.[4a]
Minor Gods[]
- Clio - Clio is the minor goddess of history; she is worshipped by several minor sects of Verena as one of her aspects.[2c]
- Five Graces - The Five Graces are a group of minor goddesses who personify beauty and grace. Vast quantities of marble were brought down from quarries in the Apuccini Mountains as well as the exotic pink-veined Trantine for which the city of Trantio is famous. This stone was used for Grottio's huge sculpture "The Five Graces" which adorns the piazza in Verezzo.[6a]
- Fury - Fury was a Shieldmaiden of Myrmidia; after her martyrdom she has been venerated as a minor god by the Cult of Myrmidia.[2b]
- Margileo – Noble Margileo is a minor Classical god, known as the Guardian of Honour. Despite being male, some scholars theorize that he may actually be an aspect of Myrmidia.[2e][2f] Although he is a lesser-known deity in the Empire, his cult is widespread in the southern province of Averland.[2g]
- Scripsisti - Scripsisti is the goddess of scribes and calligraphers; she is worshipped by several minor sects of Verena, goddess of law and knowledge, as one of her aspects.[2e]
Legendary Figures of Classical Myth[]
- Nahmud the Dark Maiden - A woman rescued by Myrmidia who, in thanks, warned the goddess of an ambush that lay ahead, and the resulting battle, the Massacre of the Three Gorges, proved to be the turning point in Myrmidia's campaign to found an empire in the southern realms.[2d]
- Tyleus - A legendary figure in Tilean folklore. He's traditionally identified as the father of the Tilean people and husband of Myrmidia.[6b]
Canon Conflicts[]
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Core Rulebook states that Morr was among the five gods who rose to prominence amongst the Old Gods of the northern Old World, worshipped by dominant cults that spread across the Empire together with those of Ulric, Taal, Rhya, and Manaan. Other sources number Morr instead as one of the Classical Gods of the southern realms of Estalia, Tilea and the Border Princes.[1a][3a][4a]
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Tome of Salvation specifies that "Morr" was a name that originated in the south, as the original northern names for the god of the dead of the pantheon of the Old Gods have been lost to time, implying that Morr was one of their number.[2a]
It should be noted that Warhammer source material is often written from the in-universe perspective of its characters, so this could be a mistake made by an unreliable narrator concerning the god of the dead's cultural origins.
The adherents of the Old Faith worship an unnamed God of Death. Whether this deity is in some way linked to the god of the dead of the Old Gods' pantheon is unknown.
Trivia[]
The Classical Gods of the Old World are inspired by the pantheon of the twelve Olympians of ancient Greek religion and mythology.
Warhammer lore does not specify whether Scripsisti, Clio, or Fury are part of the Five Graces.
Sources[]
- 1: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Core Rulebook (RPG)
- 1a: pg. 202
- 2: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition: Tome of Salvation (RPG)
- 3: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st Edition: Apocrypha Now (RPG)
- 3a: pg. 25
- 4: Liber Chaotica (Background Book)
- 4a: pp. 404-405
- 5: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Deft Steps Light Fingers (RPG)
- 5a: pg. 79
- 6: Warhammer Armies: Dogs of War (5th Edition)
- 7: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition: Up in Arms (RPG)
- 7a: pg. 50